Personal computers and the Internet greatly enhanced communications and access to information from around the world. Typically, visual information is displayed upon a monitor screen and data can be added or manipulated via keystrokes upon an associated keyboard. Feedback is provided visually to the user by the monitor screen. Blind users cannot utilize the information appearing upon the monitor screen while visually impaired users may experience difficulty doing so. Accordingly, screen readers have been developed to assist blind and visually impaired users when they use a personal computer.
Screen readers are devices that interpret display output typically viewed on a computer monitor and cause a voice synthesizer, Braille reader or other alternative device to output the same content. A well known screen reader is JAWS® available through Freedom Scientific, Inc. (St. Petersburg, Fla.). Screen readers are particularly useful for a blind or low vision user. One such screen reader is JAWS® for Windows. When installed upon a personal computer, JAWS® provides access to the operating system, software applications and the Internet. JAWS® includes a speech synthesizer that cooperates with the sound card in the personal computer to read aloud information appearing upon the computer monitor screen or that is derived through communicating directly with the application or operating system. Thus, JAWS® provides access to a wide variety of information, education and job related applications. Additionally, JAWS® includes an interface that can provide output to refreshable Braille displays. Current JAWS® software supports all standard Windows® applications, including Microsoft Office XP®. JAWS® supports Internet Explorer with special features, such as, links lists, frame lists, forms mode and reading of HTML labels and graphic labels included on web pages. Upon entering an HTML document via an Internet link, JAWS® actuates a Virtual PC Cursor that mimics the functions of the PC cursor. The Virtual PC cursor causes JAWS® to signal the speech synthesizer to speak the number of frames in a document being read in Internet Explorer and the number of links in the frame currently being displayed. Also, JAWS® causes the speech synthesizer to read graphics labeled by alternate tags in HTML code.
A problem arises when certain form fields and navigational items do not contain a minimum requisite of information for the screen reader to interpret the content. For example, a form field in a web page might accept typed input for searching a directory of other websites. Alternatively, graphic images may be used as navigational links to move from one website to another. A sighted user has little difficulty in interpreting these elements as they are presented on the web page. A typical sighted user, or “typical user”, can make a cursory scan of the window of data until he or she arrives at the desired information. The visual presentation and context often supply a certain amount of information that is useful to such a typical user. In contrast, such information is ineffectively presented using standard screen readers relying on the information and tools supplied by the author of the web page or other electronic document. As a consequence, visually impaired users are at a disadvantage when trying to utilize such a computer-rendered document.
While there are usually means to associate the forms and links with descriptive information for low-vision or blind users, authors may not include appropriate descriptions or even be aware of the need for such information. Furthermore, even if authors do include appropriate descriptive information about such screen elements, the low-vision or blind user may wish to customize the description to suit his or her needs. Different users have different needs for information. Where the user may be vision-impaired or blind, the need to interface effectively with the computer may be more acute. The ability to tailor the output to the user's individual needs enables the interface to be streamlined, with a minimum of wasted time and effort. For example, long descriptions of a form field may be quickly read by a sighted person, but may incur a long delay if read by a voice synthesizer or Braille reader. Accordingly, the end user may wish to have an abbreviated description so as to navigate quickly among all the options available.
What is needed is a system that enables users of screen readers to associate descriptive information with elements such as navigational items and form fields on electronic documents.